This with That: Agent Provocateur and Prada

Good news: Megs and I have returned to Manhattan! Bad news: We’re still getting back up to speed, so things will be a bit slow today and then totally back to normal tomorrow, and we hope that readers who were affected by the hurricane are also well on their way back to normalcy. For now, though, I’d like to spend a moment touching on my aversion to black bags.

Black, as a color, is one of my favorites. It always has been, even during childhood when most little girls fawned over pink; when everyone else in my first grade class had a pair of white Keds, I had black ones. But now, because I wear so much black clothing, wearing black accessories and shoes just feels really…dull. Even a black bag as beautiful and functional as the Prada Calfskin Tote can’t make it into my wardrobe without a good game plan for spicing it up. I think that the Agent Provocateur Leopard Print Calf Hair Driving Gloves would do just the trick for fall.

For some reason, I took one look at these drool-worthy driving gloves and couldn’t think anything but, “These need a black handbag, stat!” The key word being “hand,” of course. The visual of red leather and leopard against a black background only works if the back is close by, so hobos and totes are out. But with a bag that’s carried in the crook of the arm or the hand, the whole look harkens back to an era when women wore gloves as glamorous accessories, not just protection against the cold. It’s very Mad Men, very Hitchcock, and I’m all about it. Buy the gloves through Net-a-Porter for $500 and the bag through Neiman Marcus for $2500.